Families forced from flats by flooding still without homes

Three families forced to leave their homes after leaking water tanks flooded their flats have said they are still not able to return a week on.

The families had to leave the block of Basin Street flats when extensive damage was caused after the roof tanks flooded four homes from the top floor to the bottom last weekend.

Locals claimed that although four leaking water tanks were replaced, water is still pouring from the others.

Last week the Herald revealed how the belongings of the families were destroyed by the flooding.

They said they were given a choice of going to stay with relatives, booking into a hotel and claiming back the cost of it at a later date, or going homeless.

Viable

This was disputed by Dublin City Council, which said the families were offered alternative accommodation.

A week on from the incident, community activist Damien Farrell said the families were offered accommodation in Castleknock, which was too far away from the schools and routines of the families, one of whom has special needs that is catered for locally.

"It wasn't a viable option for them, so three families are still staying with relatives in fairly cramped conditions," he said.

Dublin City Council said the flooding was from a burst tank, which stored the bathroom and toilet water supply, in the attic space.

"Access to the attic space is either via a hatch in one of the top-floor flats or from the outside via a hoist.

"There was no internal access via the hatch as the resident was not available, and it was not possible to immediately position the hoist as access was impeded by car parking," a council spokeswoman said.

"Access was eventually gained via the hoist and the water supply to the burst tank was shut off.

"As a precautionary measure, the electricity was also shut off until the water damage could be assessed.

"A combination of the water damage and the electricity shut down rendered these four units temporarily uninhabitable," she added.

"The residents were given access to both the local area maintenance officer and the local project estate officer, both of whom met and informed the residents on a regular basis, throughout the incident.

Dried

"The occupants were offered alternative accommodation until the flats were dried out and the electricity supply was re-established.

"Fortunately, due to the residents' local support structures, they were temporarily accommodated without recourse to the alternative accommodation offered by DCC," she added.